Anime Review: Golden Kamuy Season 3
Note: SPOILERS for the previous seasons!
Recap: A couple of years after the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, former soldier Sugimoto learns of a cache of stolen gold, the location of which is tattooed on the torsos of a number of escaped prisoners. He teams up with the Ainu girl Asirpa, whose father Wilk was one of the original guardians of the gold and has disappeared. (Murdered during the robbery? Maybe.) Various factions are looking for the gold, including the renegade 7th Division, led by the mentally unstable Lieutenant Tsurumi. The various groups clash or ally.
Following the shocking betrayal at the end of Season Two, Asirpa and Sugimoto have been separated. Asirpa is taken north into Russian-held territory by her father’s old friend Kiroranke. He hopes to stir her memories so that she can decipher the tattoo map, and also rescue one of his other old friends from a Russian prison.
Sugimoto pursues them with several soldiers from the Seventh Division, as he has good reason to believe that Asirpa’s in danger from Kiroranke and the sniper Ogata.
Meanwhile, Hijikata Toshizou and his allies follow a lead to another tattooed prisoner.
Naturally, everyone involved has numerous adventures and we learn the backstories of several characters (including some surprises!)
This third block of twelve episodes continues the series well. The characters are varied and interesting, we learn more about indigenous culture and various delicious foods, and wacky adventures are had! (“Let’s join the circus!”) My personal favorite episode is “Stenka”, in which Sugimoto’s group participates in a traditional Russian brawling competition, then “enjoys” a steam bath and fights a wolverine.
This is not a series that has a good guy as such; our protagonists tend to be a little nicer than their enemies, but no one’s hands are entirely clean. (Contrary to what one of the antagonists thinks, however, some people really do have moral codes and try to live by them.)
There’s a fair amount of mood whiplash in these episodes–a dramatic scene of great emotion might be followed immediately by a pee joke, and then a fight scene. If you like a more consistent tone, this may not be the best series for you.
Content note: violence, sometimes gory and disfiguring. Male nudity is ramped up in this section (convenient shadows hide genitals), body function humor, harm to children, harm to animals. A brief storyline involving rape was removed from the anime series, but apparently will have a separate short video release.
Overall, a worthy continuation of an interesting series. Be sure you’re going to have the stomach for it though.
